Bed of the Dead

I have had this movie in my collection for sometime now, but have only just got round to watching it. I was mainly put off by the title, which makes it sound like some glib horror comedy from the '70's. However it is far from it, with an interesting story line, and good old fashioned gore. It does lose its way a little in the last 3rd, involving a time loop with a mobile and a detective which is never really explained and a little confusing, but just about manages to carry it through.

The basic premise of the movie is that a tree is used as a place of sacrifice and hanging, and is then cut down by a woodsman and made into a bed. As this back story takes place in the background of the opening credits, I don't think it can be considered a spoiler! The bed ends up in a sex club, where a guy and his best mate take their girlfriends on a birthday treat for a foursome. Needless to say things go very wrong as the bed unleashes its evil spirit.

This movie could have been a laughable disaster, but for me was a thoroughly enjoyable horror flick that was just that little bit different.

Four twentysomethings find themselves stuck on a cursed antique bed where leaving means suffering a gruesome death. Plagued with frightening hallucinations, they must figure out the bed's secrets before they are ultimately picked off one by one.

When I first heard the title and skimmed the plot, I thought perhaps this was a loose remake of "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats", which has become something of a small cult classic thanks to the comedy routine that Patton Oswalt built around that strange little gem. I mean, if you think about it, how many movies can there possibly be about a killer bed? However, it turns out that the similarities are probably coincidental. (These days, not all clown films are "It" and not all shark films are "Jaws"… maybe we're seeing the beginning of a killer bed subgenre?)

Perhaps the most impressive thing about "Bed of the Dead" is the fact that the story is told with a straight face, and actually succeeds in pulling that off. Despite the bizarre premise, it actually maintains a sense of serious dread throughout. At no point does anyone break character and say, "A cursed bed? What the heck?" No matter what supernatural creature lurks in the next shadow, they just roll with the punches.

Unfortunately, the four young people trapped in the bed are more or less disposable, one-dimensional characters, so there isn't much to say about them. Sandy (played by Alysa King, SLASHER) gets the most screen time, but is never really a compelling character. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as slasher films have thrived on disposable teens for decades. The lead detective has more depth to him, enough so we can actually start to like or dislike him as his story unfolds. (Personally, his back story did not interest me much, but actor Colin Price is the lightning rod that holds the cast together, so it's great to see he has many upcoming projects in the works.) I also really liked the club owner quite a bit, but this is probably because he's one of those supporting roles that works best in small doses.

If any person or group working on "Bed of the Dead" deserves singling out, it would have to be the effects crew. The blood and gore is some of the finest ever shown, with one "shower scene" reminiscent of "Nightmare on Elm Street", only even more disturbing. There is a creepy spider creature that comes across as a hybrid of "The Exorcist" and "The Ring", and we even get an offhand comment referencing "The Shining". (To be clear, none of these references come off as "rip-offs", but cleverly tongue-in-cheek homages.)

Around the halfway mark, the plot introduces a twist involving a countdown that is quite clever, but also becomes the film's undoing in its failure to make sense. We are not given even a hint at an explanation and any attempt by the viewer to figure it out will only result in a headache. And why does the detective know so much? Somehow he is able to figure out how to anger the bed, as well as how to survive it. It's simply unthinkable that he would be able to deduce such things, especially in so short a time.

Don't get me wrong. There's no reason to believe this film was meant to be a deep, intellectual thriller and it would not be fair to criticize the creators for something they never intended. If the intent was a fun, fast-paced 80 minutes of blood and gore, they succeeded in spades. A sequel with another detective attempting to uncover the secrets of the bed would even be welcome (in some ways, the bed is not unlike the Lamentation Configuration in "Hellraiser"). This is a series I could really get behind.

"Bed of the Dead", from Black Fawn Films and writer-director Jeff Maher, premieres July 16 at the Fantasia Film Festival. Any fan of old-school (read: 1980s) horror would be wise to give this one a spin.

Admittedly, I was lured in by the title of the movie; "Bed of the Dead", as it could have been either a comedy addition to the zombie genre, or that it might actually be a movie about a deadly bed. And being a life-long fan of the horror genre, then of course I did opt for sitting down to watch "Bed of the Dead", even without having read the synopsis for the movie.

It was a little bit hard, no pun intended, for me to get fully into the groove and atmosphere of this movie, as it was set in an underground sex club. I am not a prude or anything, but the setting of the movie was just a bit too tacky.

I can't claim to be familiar with anyone on the cast list, for better or worse. Admittably then I usually do find it refreshing and nice to have all new faces perform in movies, as there are no associations to previous characters portrayed in other movies. And such was also the case with "Bed of the Dead". The cast was doing good jobs with their given roles and characters.

Writer Cody Calahan and writer/director Jeff Maher opted for a story that jumps back and forth between what happened in room 18 to the four young people and the present time where the police are investigating the gruesome scene in room 18. Personally, I can't claim to find that to be a particularly good way of presenting a story, because you are already made well aware of the outcome of the movie right from the very beginning, leaving little room for surprises and plot twists along the way.

The visual effects and CGI in the movie were quite good, and there is a fair amount of violence and gore to keep most gorehounds and fans of the horror genre satisfied.

Story-wise then "Bed of the Dead" didn't prove to be spectacular or outstanding in any way. Was it entertaining? Well, sure, it was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be. Just don't expect to be blown away or kept at the edge of your seat. And this is hardly the type of movie that you will return to watch a second time, provided you get through it the first time.

I will say that the movie is fairly well paced, although it loses its momentum some time after the halfway point, where the movie settles down into a slow paced trot. Which only makes it all the more of an ordeal to actually maintain interest and focus on the movie.

All in all, not the best of forays into the horror genre, but definitely not among the worst either. The overall impression with "Bed of the Dead" was a mediocre one for me. As such, then I am rating it 5 out of 10 stars.

With a title like "Bed of the Dead" I wrongly assumed that this was going to be some kind of silly horror comedy. It is not. The film opens with a pretty gruesome scene involving an execution on a tree, obviously set in the past. Then the tree later gets turned into a large bed. Fast forward to the present day and two couples rent an expensive room at a sex club, which contains said bed. Hallucinations and death replace the fun and sex that they were seeking... Like I said this is not a comedy but played perfectly straight. It's not a bad film, there are some neat visuals and it is pretty gory. In addition to the two couples the story is also as much about the troubled policeman investigating the case. I like the way that the film intertwines the relationship between him and the female victims, for example they are speaking together by 'phone yet at different hours respectively. However the film has some weaknesses, including the characters/actors. It's pretty average, though it's the best bed horror movie that I can recall seeing. But as "DeathBed" is the only other one that does not say much!

Four young people get a room in an underground sex club for a shared tryst. The room they obtain has a huge bed. However, this bed is not an ordinary bed. Getting out of this bed is bad for your health.

This is the first horror movie about a bed that I have seen. Looking through some of the reviews I get the impression that there are more out there. Like I said though, this is a first for me.

This is a lower budgeted film but I thought it was filmed well. The acting and effects are just so-so. I thought it was put together well. I think it falls short due to the lack of explanation regarding the powers of the bed. We get an extremely vague look into the creation of the symbol when the film started but that was about it. I think, although I could be wrong, that the symbol was a tree of life symbol and maybe it was thought that the symbol offered enough of an explanation about what was going on. The significance should have been explained better.

It isn't top notch but for me, the film was interesting. I'll probably never watch it again but it was okay.